Magnetic materials are used to form a wide array of electrical devices, such as motors, transformers, sensors, and/or other electronic devices. Contemporary devices are often miniaturized in order to form smaller or thinner devices, or, in the context of mobile applications, to reduce weight, reduce power, and/or otherwise add more functionality within a smaller footprint. Existing methods for forming relatively small magnetic devices typically include lithographic patterning or embossing using photoresist composites, mechanical polishing/placement, or electroplating.
Conventional electroforming can be used to plate metallic magnetic materials into lithographically patterned surfaces, and while the resolution of electroforming can be as low as 10's of nanometers, the technique cannot be used with substantially non-conductive ceramic permanent magnets or ferrite materials. Conventional lithography and embossing processes are also conventionally available, but these processes are limited in minimum resolution to approximately 40-60 um and require relatively complex multi-layer growth processes to produce the 2.5 dimensional shapes typical of lithographic processing. Thus, there is a need for an improved methodology to provide compact magnetic devices that is relatively inexpensive, takes less time, and is less complex.